Monday, June 6, 2016

Floored

I decided it was about time I put a floor back in the E21 so I could leave the seat bolted in, using some galvanised sheet I had lying around I got started.

I don't have a vice in the garage (it's in the back shed) so I made do with a piece of wood and a hammer to form the curves/bends required.

Once I got close it was easy enough to persuade the last few adjustments using the hammer

Overlapping this material makes it a little easier to weld (I kept blowing holes in it at the edges, it seemed I was forever chasing them.) It'd be easier if I was using thinner wire I think; cleaning the surfaces with a grinder would probably have helped a lot too!

I was originally going to try and make one piece but because of all the different curves it turned out easier to make in a few separate ones.

Finally it has a floor again. I need to clearance the seat end of the new floor to allow the seat to move ever so slightly further forwards but altogether it works well and isn't noticeable underfoot.

This photo surfaced on facebook recently of a vehicle my grandfather built many, years ago. As my brother puts it - "Turns out building unsafe race cars runs in the family"